Carrier-sensing anti-noise receiving system



28, 1956 w. H. WIRKLER 2,761,062

CARRIER-SENSING ANTI-NOISE RECEIVING SYSTEM Original Filed Dec. 9, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet l DELAY CIRCUIT 4 6 Branch No.2 3

,1 PRODUCT a FIG. mpu r 3 DETECTOR F'LTER SIGNAL OUTPUT FIG. 2. 3

r2 n a OUTPUT 0 Fl G. 3.

l9 8 a From Branch N I I7 //a N OU SUT FIG. 4 I I From Brunch N0I2 75 l;

CONTROL TERMINALS Fl G 4 Fromh E/ EEl (L Bmnc No. 54 F3 Summon:

" WALTER H. WIRKLER Aug. 28, 1956 w. H. WIRKLER CARRIER-SENSING ANTI-NOISE RECEIVING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed Dec. 9, 1947 u N OF A m.

(Ittorneg United States Patent CARRIER-SENSING AN TI-NOISE RECEIVING SYSTEM Walter H. Wirkler, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, assignor to C01.- l1 ns wRadio Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a corporanon of Iowa originalrapplication December 9,,1947, Serial No. 799,501, new Patent No. 2,580,148, dated December 25', 1951 Divided and this application November .23, 1951, Serial No. 258,481

7 Claims. l (Cl. 2511-20) This invention relates to signal detector arrangements and more particularly to systems employing high frequency carriers.

A principalwobject. of the invention is to provide a signal or control voltage responsive circuit which is operative in the presence of relatively strong noise voltages, but which is prevented from false operation by the noise voltage itself.

Another object is to provide a signal voltageresponsive circuit which responds to 'a substantially stead-y. intelligence or control signal, and which is substantially nonresponsive to random noise voltages in themselves.

Afurther' object is to provide an improved signal responsive circuit which depends for its proper controlor intelligence action, upon the presence of a received carrier, and which is protected against false operation by random noise voltages in the absence of received carrier.

Another object isto provide a signal receiving system of the carrier-01f detection type, wherein false operation by random noise voltage is prevented by employing a product detector which is fed by two input branches one of which has a greater time delaythan the other; the two branches are arranged to be supplied in. parallelwith the received voltages. The time. delay of one branch is coordinated With respect to the other branch so that substantially coincident carrieryoltages or similar substantially steady signals are necessary inboth. branches in order. to produce a rectified. control signalin the detector output.

A feature of the invention relates to a system which is responsive to a steady intelligence oncontrol signal and substantially non-responsive to random. noise voltages, employing a product. detector. having two input branches with predetermined and relative transmission delays, and a single output circuit wherein detected output. exists only when input energy is applied simultaneously over to said detector; the. output circuit having means forselecting the uni-directional current. representing. theusteady signals, while rejecting the alternating currents representing the noise.

Another feature relates. to an. improved. carrier-E and noise. discriminator arrangement employing. a coin.- cident detectorof the electroemechanical transducer type.

A further feature. relates to. a carriereoif and noise discriminator arrangement employing. two productor coincidence. detectors each of whichhasa pair of. input branches and a common output circuit; Thecorresponding ones of each of said pairs of input branches are time delayed a predetermined amount withirespectto the remaining input branches, and the signal voltages; applied to the two input. branches of'one detector: difiertby 90 electricaldegrees from the relation,whichexistsbetween the signal voltages applied to the two inputbranches of thezother detector. Each detector has its output provided with special-filter: means, tthe .outputofthe filtersbeing connected for additive relation of the filtered-unidirectional currents regardless--of their relative pola'rities:

ice

A. further feature relates to .a carrier-oil and-noise discriminator arrangement employing: a coincidence or product detector which .isarranged to-be fed over separate paths by the received energy, one pathhavingi apredetermined time lag with. respect to the-other path, one of said paths includingone or more .stageswtuned tothe signal frequency. y

A further feature relates to a carrier and noise dis.- criminator arrangement employing. a coincidence or product. detector which is arranged to befed' over sepe arate paths by the received energy of respectively different and predetermined time delay, one path including means to amplitude-modulate-or phase-modulate the Sig-j nal at a fixed frequency; the. detector having an output circuit which includes filter means to acceptcomponents of said fixed frequency while rejecting components of frequencies appreciably different from. said fixed -frequency.

A still further featurerelates to the novel organization,- arrangement and relative interconnection"of?parts which cooperate to provide. an improved carrier and noise discriminator system.

Other features and advantages not particularly enums erated Will be apparent after a consideration ofthe following. detailed descriptions and the. appended claims;

In the drawing, i

Fig. 1 is a generalizedschematic dlagranrexplanatory of the principles ofthe invention.

Figs; 2, 3, 4 and 4a are modifications of the product detector of Fig. .1.

Figs. 5, 6, 7 andrS are respective modificationsofme system 'of Fig; l. v

Fig. 9 is a diagram of an arrangement: accordingto the invention andexplanatory of certain phases' of its operation. t

Figs. wand 11- are the invention.

The basic principle of this invention is ill'ustrated schematically in Fig. 1. The 'inputsignal fro'm source 1 is split into two branches; one of which includes a delay circuit 2, and the two, branches-are recombined in a product detector 3 to produce an indicating voltage which; after suitable filtering 'in filterfi, appears at the output terminals. Inthe first-branch, the'signal is applied to the product detector withnegligibletime or amplitude distortion; in" the second"branch, however, the signal passes through the" time delay means 2 whichdelays its arrival atthe product detector.

The product detector or'coincidence detector requires the presence of the signal in both branches simultaneously in order to produce an indicating voltage. Figs; 2, 3; 4 and 4a show various detectorcircuits suitable for product detection. V

In Fig. 2, for example, it isobvious that there'will be no direct current acrossithe' outputof the balanced rectifiercomprising diodes 5,16, whensignal is presentin only one of the inputbranches. The sameis trueof the doubly-balanced ring rectifier '7 of FiguregSQwhich is constructed preferably of four semi-conducting elements 8, 9, 10, 11, with square laW current-versns-voltage characteristics. The-detector of Fig: 4 is a pentagrid converter tube 12 of the type commonly used as thefirst detector in conventional superheterodyne receiving cir; cuits and is characterized by the factthat its output, like that of Fig. ,3, contains components approximately pro portionalto the product of the instantaneous voltages applied to its'two setsof input terminals. Tube12 cornprisesthe' electron-emitting'cathode 13ffirst control grid 14- which is fed from'branch #2, shield grids 15,. 16'; second-control grid 17"'which is fed frombranchitl, suppressor grid 18, and" output plateor anode 19'. Hence further modified embodiments of the term product detector will be used in this specification for convenience in designating any of these or similar detecting means which produce a characteristic output only when a signal is applied to each of two input circuits simultaneously. Such a detector is also known in the art as a coincidence detector having two input terminals both of which must be simultaneously energized before a signal appears in the output.

Fig. 4a shows a wattmeter movement of the electro dynamometer type used as a product detector, employing two dynamometer coils 20, 21, one of which may be stationary and the other a moving coil as is well-known in electrodynamometer type wattmeters. The moving coil 21 has attached thereto an arm 22 which operates the movable contact 23 of a single-pole double-throw switch 24. The torque produced by the instrument is proportional to the product of the current in the two coils, and the useful output due to a steady signal takes the form of uni-directional mechanical torque which can be utilized in various ways, such as closing electrical contacts, for example. The mechanical inertia of the instrument here serves to reject the effect of alternating torque produced by noise voltages. The signal here must be of relatively low frequency (audio) and the delay means may consist of electrical circuits, electromechanical or acoustical means, or phonograph recording and pickup heads displaced from each other along a moving recording medium.

It is now clear that a short noise impulse, being delayed in one branch of Fig. 1, cannot reach both input circuits of the product detector simultaneously and so produce a characteristic indicating voltage in the output, whereas a steady signal of longer duration can be present in both circuits simultaneously despite the delay in one branch. While this explanation of the non-response of the circuit to noise voltage is adequate when the noise consists of impulses of short duration and low recurrence rate, the circuit will be non-responsive also to random noise, which may consist of impulses closely spaced in time. Hence further explanation is required. For this purpose reference may be had to Fig. 5.

In Fig. 5, the intermediate frequency output of a superhetrodyne receiver 25 is applied to product detector 26 directly through branch 1 and through time-delay circuits 27 in branch 2, by respective coupling transformers 28, 29, tuned to the intermediate frequency by respective condensers 30, 31. A steady signal may produce direct current in the output of 26, which is passed through resistance-capacitance filters 32, 33, 34, to remove alternating current components, and the uni-directional output of the filters is applied to the control grids 35, 36 of D. C. amplifier tubes 37, 38/ Any D. C. potential across these grids will cause a differential D. C. current in the plate resistors 39, 40 to operate relay 41, the contacts 42, 43 of which may close the circuit to a loud-speaker, telegraph sounder or tell-tale lamp, connected to control terminals 45, 46, for example. For simplicity, we shall assume that the selectivity characteristics of the receiver are equivalent to those of a single very selective circuit, but this is not essential to the operation of the system. A noise impulse at the antenna 44 may then produce an I. F. output voltage described as a function of time by:

In: Vitecos wot (1) where Vn is the instantaneous noise voltage, Vn the peak noise voltage; a is the decrement of the circuit which is proportional to the effective bandwidth; eis the decrement factor showing how the amplitude of the oscillation decays with time and cos wot is the oscillation factor; 400 is the cyclic natural frequency of the I. F. selective circuit; and t is the time since the impulse was applied to the antenna. If d is the time delay in branch #2, the de ay d noise vnltag is given y:

is the phase angle between the oscillation factors of the direct and the delayed noise voltages. The output of 26 will then be a pulse of direct current determined from The product of the two cosine terms in (3) contains a D. C. term proportional to V2 cos n, in addition to the various A. C. terms. If the time constant of circuit 32, 33, 34, is very great, only the D. C. component can cause operation of the relay. The magnitude of the D. C. component is proportional to 00 Noise D.C.=J; Vfi cos (w olt (4) For comparison, if there had been no delay in branch #2, the D. C. output due to noise would have been i evgw dr The ratio of the two is then D.C. output with delay d DC. output without delay a 00s cos The delay is thus effective in reducing the D. C. output due to noise by the factor r modified by the factor cos wad.

A similar analysis will show that the D. C. output due to a signal is proportional to the square of the signal strength and the factor cos wod, without the factor 12*, if the signal wave is undamped and its frequency is equal to the natural frequency of the I. F. selective circuit. If the delay were such that cos w0d=0, or w0d=1r/2, there would be no D. C. output due to either noise or signal. This would be the case if the delay amounted to a quarter cycle at the mid-frequency of the receiver passband, and if the signal frequency were centered in the passband. In general, then, discrimination against the effect of noise is obtained only by reduction of the factor r in Equation 6. The greater the factor a,

the shorter is the eifective duration of a noise pulse in the output of the receiver. Thus a large reduction in the effect of noise is obtained when the delay a is large compared to the effective duration of the pulse. In particular, it can be shown that the effective noise bandwidth of the receiver in cycles per second is B=a/ 2. Thus, for example, if B were 11,500 C. P. S., a would be 23,000. If the delay were A of a second, the factor ad would be 2.3, and the D. C. due to noise would be reduced by the factor eor to as much as there would have been without the delay network.

The analysis so far has been concerned only with the interaction in the product detector of the direct and the delayed pulse due to the same applied noise impulse. We have seen that if the delay is great compared to the reciprocal of the bandwidth, the direct pulse will have decayed to a negligible value when the delayed pulse arrives, and the output of the product detector will be negligible. When the time separation of successive impulses is comparable with the delay, however, it is obvious that the direct pulse will interact with the delayed pulse from an earlier applied impulse and the detector output will not be zero. The detector output will then be given by an equation similar to (6) with d replaced by the difference between the delay and the time separa tion of the impulses. The sign of the cosine factor in Equation 6 will thus be random because of the random separation of the impulses which characterizes random noise, so that the long-term average D. C. output of detector 26, Fig. 5, will be zero. The filter 32,

Signal D. C. :Vs cos road (7) where Vs and cos are the strength and the cyclic frequency of the signal, respectively. If the delay, d, remains constant and the I. F. signal frequency varies over a small range due to oscillator frequency drift in the transmitter or the receiver, the factor wsd may assume any value so that cos wod may be positive, negative, or zero. To assure operation of the circuit regardless of these changes in signal frequency, the arrangement of Fig. 6 may be used wherein a second product detector 26a is provided, with a 90 electrical phase shifting network 47 applied in one of its input circuits, as shown in Fig. 6. It will be seen in Fig. 6 that the branch #1 is connected in parallel with detectors 26 and 26a, and likewise branch #2 is connected in parallel with detectors 26 and 26a, the last-mentioned connection including the 90 phase shifter 47. The detector 26 feeds into a filter 32, 33, 34, and thence into the D. C. amplifier tubes 37, 38, as in Fig. 5. Likewise, the second product detector 26a feeds into a similar filter 32a, 33a, 34a, and thence into similar D. C. amplifier tubes 37a,,38a. The differential output across plate resistors 39, 40, is applied over conductors 48, 49, to the winding of electro-magnetic relay 41. Likewise, the differential output across plate resistors 39a, 40a, is applied over conductors 48a, 49a, to the winding of an electromagnetic relay 41a. These relays have their respective contacts con nected in parallel to the control terminals 45, 46.

The D. C. output of 26a due to the signal is thus Signal D. C.=Vs sin 013d (8) This is filtered by another R-C filter 32a, 33a, 34a, and applied through tubes 37a, 38a, to relay 41a. Hence if so that the output of 26 is zero, there will be maximum output from 26a and the contacts of either 41 or 41a or both, which are in parallel, will be closed whenever a signal is present regardless of its exact frequency and the phase angle of. the factor wsd. In fact, if the. armatures, 43 and 43a were linked together mechanically as in Fig. 7, pulling against a common retractile spring 50, the sensitivity of this composite relay would be quite independent of wad, since the pull of each relay is, proportional to the square of the signal current it receives.

Hence the total pull would be proportional to.

V82 (cos wsd-l-sin and) V3 (9) A similar elfect can be realizedfrom the circuit of Fig. 8 using a single relay 51 in which the tubes 37, 38, 37a, 38a, are biased by a D. C. bias means such as cathode resistor 52, to operate on the square law portion of their plate-current versus grid-voltage characteristic and the relay 51 receives the sum of the plate currents of all four tubes.

For simplicity, the analysis thus far has been based on the assumption that the intermediate frequency delay network. applies the same delay and attenuation to all frequency components; i. e., that it has no phase or amplitude distortion. In practice, this requirement is not essential, as will be seen from an analysis of the circuit of Fig. 9.

Here the intermediate frequency signal from the superelements which are connected to the output-of thepr'oduct detectors may be the same as the corresponding numbered elements shown in Fig. 8. The additional delay required in branch #2 is furnished by circuits 54 and 55.

If the equation of the transient oscillation acrosscircuit 53 due to the application of a noise impulse isgiven by 1 V Vne cos w0l (1 and if, for simplicity, the signal gain of eachstage is taken equal to unity, the transient oscillation across circuit 54 will be V =aVntecos wot (11) and that across circuit 55 r 2 V.,= ga e cos, w t 12 The D. C. output of the product detector due to a single noise impulse will thus be proportional to.

For comparison, if:the voltage at theinput terminals of branchi#2 had been applied to both sets .of input terminals of the product detector, the output would have been Comparing Equations 15 and 16, it is seen that the delay introduced by circuits54 and 55reduces the D. C. contribution due to noise by 33'% without affecting that produced by the signal, Obviously, the more circuits includedbetween terminals TI and terminals T2 the more is the effect of noise reduced. When the input terminals of branch #1 are connected'near the input of a multistage intermediate frequency amplifier with multiple tuned circuits and the input terminals of branch #2 are connected near the output, a very largeincrease in the noise tolerance of thesystem can be achieved.

A practical application of the principles illustratedin Fig. 9, is shown in Fig. 10.

Because it is desirable to includemost-of the intermediate frequency amplifier between thepointswhich feed the product detectorin order to get the delay required between those points, the signal in. branch #1 is, in practice, rather weakand the output of product detector 26 is weak also. If the useful output of '26 were direct current, a carefully balanced high-gain D. C.

amplifier would be required for operating the relay; To avoid this, the signal in branch#2 is modulated by modulator 59 at the frequency faas controlled by 'oscillator 60. 59 may vary the intensity or phase of the signal in branch #2, or, if it is a balanced modulator,

it may actually reverse the phase periodically. In either case, the output of 26 will be alternating currentand can When relay 51 is operated, it connects the amplified. signal from the second detector and-audio frequency- 7 amplifier stage of the receiver to a suitable loudspeaker, as indicated.

The output of 26 will still be zero, however, for signals of such frequency as to make wsd=; that is, when the two intermediate frequency input signals to 26 are in phase quadrature. To prevent this, the phase of the signal in branch #2 with respect to that in branch #1 can be caused to rotate continuously at a rate of fa cycles per second, rather than merely reversing periodically. This is equivalent to heterodyning the signal to a new frequency removed from the original intermediate frequency by fa cycles per second-which arrangement is shown in Fig. 11.

Since the output of the product detector of frequency fa due to the presence of signal is now never zero regardless of the signal frequency and the delay, but merely changes in phase, it could be utilized directly in a highly selective amplifier and rectifier arrangement as in Fig. 10. However, a more practical arrangement is presented in Fig. 11. Here the function of amplifier 61 is merely to provide amplification. The equivalent of selectivity is provided by balanced rectifiers 63 and 64 and their R=C output filters 65, 66. Both 63 and 64 receive components of frequency fa derived from the signal. 64 is polarized by oscillator 60 directly, and 63 is polarized through 90 phase shifting network 67. Hence, whenever there are components of frequency exactly equal to fa in the output of 61, there will be direct current in the output of at least one of the rectifiers 63 and 64 regardless of the phase relation between these components and the voltage from oscillator 60. The two rectifiers 63, 64, then energize the control relay 51 cooperatively by some means such as explained in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, for example. Whenrelay 51 is operated, it connects the detected and amplified audio frequency signal from the radio receiver 25 to the loudspeaker. Receiver 25 may be of the conventional super-heterodyne type comprising radio frequency input stage with its associated heterodyne local oscillator and first detector; first intermediate frequency amplifier stage; converter stage; second intermediate frequency amplifier stage; second detector and audio frequency amplifier stages. A system such as shown in Fig. 11 was found to be practical and reliable for carrier controlled audio muting under extreme noise conditions.

While in the foregoing certain particular embodiments have been illustrated, it will be understood that various changes and modifications will be made therein. Thus, While there is no particular criterion as to the duration of the intelligence signal voltage with respect to the delay time of the various delay circuits, they should, to produce the best results, be of a duration which is long compared with the delay time of the delay circuit. Preferably, the circuit band-width must be wide enough so that individual noise impulses are of short duration compared to the delay time of the delay circuits. However, if the spacing ,of these individual noise impulses is random, they may overlap with the signal intelligence. In that case, the noise output of the system is not zero, but of random polarity so that it can be filtered out in a long time constant filter circuit such as (filters 4, 3233-34, 54--55 which will also filter out an audio signal as described. It should be observed that elements ofthe various figures which are the same are identified by the same numerals.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 790,501, filed December 9, 1947, now Patent No. 2,580,148 issuedDecember25, 1951. p

What is claimed is: l. A carrier radio receiving system, comprising a product detector of the kind having two input terminals and an output terminal and which'requires simultaneous signal energization of both input terminals in order to produce a signal output at said output terminal, tWo input paths of respectively diiferent'time delays and connected respectively to the said input terminals of said detector to said detector, an output path from the output terminal of said detector, means to subject a received carrier to first and second frequency conversion stages, means connecting a part of the output of the first stage to one of said input paths, means connecting a part of the output of the second stage to the other input path, a local injection oscillator of fixed phase for said second stage, a pair of rectifying channels connected in parallel to said output 'path, means to excite both said rectifying channels from said local injection oscillator but in respective phase quadrature relation, and means connected to said rectifying channels to separate the direct current components representing the carrier signal from the alternating current components representing the noise voltages.

2. A system according to claim 1, in which said product detector comprises a pair of rectifiers with their electrodes connected in respective opposed balanced relation to both of said input paths.

3. A system according to claim 1, in which said product detector comprises a ring rectifier having two sets of conjugate points, one set being connected across one input path, and the other set being connected across the other input path.

4. A system according to claim 1, in which said product detector comprises, an electron discharge tube having a cathode, an anode and at least two successive intervening control grids one of said control grids being connected to one of said input paths and the other control grid being connected to the other of said input paths.

5. A circuit arrangement comprising a radio receiver of the superheterodyne type having an intermediate frequency amplifier stage, a signal detector, audio frequency amplifier and signal responder; switching means for controlling the circuit of said responder, a product detector of the kind having a pair of input terminals and an output terminal and which requires simultaneous signal energization of both input terminals in order to produce an output signal at the output terminal, a pair of paths leading from the output of said intermediate frequency amplifier stage respectively to input terminals of said product detector, one of said paths including transmission time delay means, and frequency conversion means connected to said one path for converting the signal supplied therefrom to said product detector to a frequency which is different from that of the signal applied to said product detector over the other path to produce in the output of said product detector asignal of fixed frequency, an amplifier connected to the output of said product detector for selectively amplifying said fixed frequency, and means to control said switching means by the output of said amplifier, the last mentioned means including a pair of rectifier channels, a local source of fixed frequency, a phase shifter for biasing said rectifiers respectively in a phase quadrature relation, means connecting the oscillator directly to one of said rectifier channels and through said phase shifter to the other of said rectifier channels, means connecting the output of said amplifier simultaneously to the inputs of both of said rectifier channels, and means connecting the outputs of said rectifier channels to said switching means.

6. A carrier radio receiving system comprising in combination, a product detector of the kind having two input terminals and an output terminal and which requires simultaneous signal energization of both input terminals in order to produce a signal at the output terminal, two sepc arate input paths connected respectively to said input terminals, an output path from said output terminal, a pair of rectifiers, a source of fixed frequency connected through phase splitting means to said rectifiers to polarize said rectifiers respectively in phase quadrature relation, means in one of said input paths for imparting thereto a greater time delay than that of the other input path, means to apply received signals accompanied by noise voltages simultaneously, to both said input paths, means including said source of fixed frequency and connected to said one of said pathsto produce in the output of said product de-.

tector a carrier frequency equal to the frequency of said fixed frequency source, means to apply said carrier frequency from the output of said detector simultaneously to both rectifiers, and means connected to the output of said rectifiers to separate the direct current components representing the carrier signal from alternating current components representing noise voltages.

7. A circuit responsive to a steady signal and relatively non-responsive to random noise comprising in combination, a first product detector, two input paths to said first product detector and one output path from said, first product detector, time delay means in one of said input paths, frequency conversion means for translating the signal in one input path to a frequency removed from that of the signal in the other input path by a frequency interval equal to a fixed frequency, a local oscillator for producing said fixed frequency, a second product detector, a third product detector each of said product detectors having two input paths and one output path, and each of said product detectors being of the kind which requires simultaneous signal energization of both its input paths in order to produce an output signal in the output path thereof, means to energize one input path of the said first product detector by energy from said local oscillator, means to energize one input path of the third product detector also by said fixed frequency energy but in phase quadrature with the energy energizing the said input path of the second product detector by said fixed frequency,

the remaining input paths of the second and third product detectors being connected to the output path of the first product detector, separate filter means connected to the output paths of the second and third product detectors for accepting unidirectional currents and rejecting alternating currents, and means for combining the efiects of the two filtered currents additively regardless of their relative polarities.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,904,607 Bethenod Apr. 18, 1933 2,165,764 Pitsch July 11, 1939 2,175,270 Koch Oct. 10, 1939 2,233,384 Feldman Feb. 25, 1941 2,252,811 Lowell Aug. 19, 1941 2,290,958 Hagen July 28, 1942 2,304,135 Eidr Dec. 8, 1942 2,344,012 Wright Mar. 14, 1944 2,350,702 Ullrich June 6, 1944 2,371,416 Tunick Mar. 13, 1945 2,426,187 Earp Aug. 26, 1947 2,493,446 Crosby Jan. 3, 1950 2,527,561 Mayle Oct. 31, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES Belles: Reduction of Heterodyne Interference, pages and 151, in Electronics, December 1945. 

